It was an auspicious night for Newstalk as the station brought home 21 accolades from this year's IMRO Radio Awards.
Newstalk won Station of the Year, taking home Gold in arguably the mostly highly anticipated category on the night.
We’ve only gone and won station of the year gold award at #imro19 @IMRORadioAwards pic.twitter.com/8ybPEWawpW
— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) October 4, 2019
The station won Gold in eight categories.
The Hard Shoulder, presented by Ivan Yates, won the top prize in the Current Affairs Programme category. The Pat Kenny Show won Bronze in the same section.
There was a double win for Ivan as he also received the award for Speech Broadcaster of the year.
Lunchtime Live, presented by Ciara Kelly, won Gold in the Interactive Speech Programme category.
‘Searching for Daddly Dee’ won the Drama Category. It told the story of Dezy whose Dad Desmond P Walls was among the passengers who died on the Aer Lingus flight 712 which went down at Tuskar Rock in 1968.
The golden night for the station at the radio Oscars continued as Off the Ball Live was chosen as the winner of the Sports Programme category.
It was a full podium finish for the team as Off the Ball Weekday received Silver and Team 33 was awarded Bronze.
The station also picked up Silver and Bronze accolades in the Sports Story category for 'Declan Rice – Tragedy of Three Acts' and 'Painkillers in Irish Sport' respectively.
What have we here? Sports broadcaster and sports show of the year. The smack talk seems to have worked for @nathanmurf 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/qGYCYm4PAm
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) October 4, 2019
Off the Ball's Nathan Murphy also received the Sports Broadcaster of the Year accolade, while Máire Treasa Ní Cheallaigh won Silver in the same category.
Newstalk's Frank Greaney and Henry McKean received Silver and Bronze News Reporter of the Year prizes respectively.
Tom Dunne was awarded the Specialist Music Broadcaster of the Year, while The Tom Dunne Show received Bronze in the Specialist Music Programme category.
Well done @tomhappens on your #IMRO19 win! Here’s a few words from the man himself. pic.twitter.com/MXVKcpHgJY
— IMRO Radio Awards (@IMRORadioAwards) October 4, 2019
Sean Moncrieff won Bronze for Speech Broadcaster of the Year while the Moncrieff show also received a Bronze Magazine Programme award.
It follows the induction of presenter Sean into the IMRO Radio Awards Hall of Fame for 2019 in recognition of his contribution to radio over his career.
Other Bronze awards were given to Newstalk for its Station Imaging, as well as Future Proof ‘Chances’ in the Specialist Speech Programme category.
The annual awards celebrate the skill of radio production and programming exhibited by stations and broadcasters across Ireland.
This year's event was held on Friday night in the Lyrath Estate in Kilkenny.
The judging panel, made up of 105 judges, who to 652 entries over 37 different categories.
Patricia Monahan, Managing Editor at Newstalk said: “We are delighted with the acknowledgment that Newstalk has received from our peers.
The IMRO Awards area a fantastic way to celebrate those who have contributed so much to Irish radio.
This year Newstalk received awards across a number of categories, which highlights the diverse content Newstalk produces for our listeners daily.
“On behalf of everyone at Newstalk, I would like to congratulate all our winners.”
